In about a day, I will be leaving Singapore to pursue my degree at the University of Western Australia in Perth. My holidays of 7 months have come to an end. It all feels kind of surreal at this moment. Just like the time I entered NS and the day I collected my Pinkie. I guess I've been elevated to a plain of fantasy and dreams where things don't seem real to me anymore. Just like the song "Row row row your boat". Life is but a dream...But I did however manage to cross one thing off my list before leaving. I passed my driving test. On the first try too. Anybody want the name of my instructor? He's got quite a high rate of first time passes. His pick up point is at Bukit Gombak MRT station. Drop me a message or something. Still on driving. I did make some mistakes though. 'Steering while stationery, Car roll back less then 1m on slope. Changed lane abruptly. Didn't check the mirror when slowing down /moving off" And that's about it. 18 points too. Noticed I didn't get any "Blind spot" deductions. Supposedly according to my instructor, the tester I got was super strict and has a 90% fail chance. So during the test, I fell back to my 'Operations Mode'. At the beginning of the test, as I started off, I didn't release the handbreak fully. The tester went "your handbreak not fully down". I was thinking "Oh crap..there goes a few points." And then I went into "Ops Mode" Here's a few examples I did.

Tester: Turn left here.
Me: Roger that. Turning left here. Mirror... Clear. Oncoming vehicles...Clear. Blindspot...Clear. Moving off now

When I was approaching Junctions:
Me: Approaching Junction. Slowing down. Junction Check...Clear. Proceeding

At pedestrian's:
Me: Approaching pedestrian crossing. Slowing down. Pedestrian check. Clear. Proceeding

U-Turns:
Me: Approaching U turn. Engaging engine break. Filtering in. Signal on. Checking blindspot. Dropping to 2nd Gear. Stopping. Oncoming vehicle. Clear. Moving off."

I basically gave him a running commentary on what I was doing. But I was rather talking to myself. But making sure he could hear me. You may laugh. But I passed with a super strict tester. THANK GOD!!!

Now all I got to do is wait for my license to get posted to my house and from there to me in perth for conversion. Gonna have a weird time though. I haven't parked without poles yet.

Posted on 2/16/2007 by <$The One$>